Riverspawn Jackson And The Hunter Lieutenant Soldier Demigods Of Chaos
by polymerase
Summary: Riverspawn Jackson: black-haired, green-eyed anorexic beauty. Simultaneously Percy Jackson's long-lost identical twin sister and his one true love interest. Also, she's the daughter of at least 14 gods. When her presence in Percy Jackson's world causes the space-time continuum to collapse, Annabeth Chase becomes the only thing standing between Riverspawn and the rest of the world.
1. Riverspawn Makes Me Want To Slap Her

"Sally?"

Sally Jackson didn't look away from the muffin tins as she replied. "Hold this bowl, Paul. Yes, Annabeth dear?" It came out as an instinctive response, and I won't lie, I felt warm and gooey every time she called me that.

But I was here on business. "Did you ever have a daughter named Riverspawn?"

Now she looked up sharply at me, frowning. She put her spoon back in the blue batter bowl. Next to me, Percy reached for it and licked it. "Riverspawn? I've never had a daughter named—actually, I've never heard that name before in my life."

"I know right? It's unbelievable," Percy mumbled, shaking his head through a mouthful of cupcake batter.

I elbowed him and reached in my bag for the photo we'd taken yesterday. Sally and Paul leaned in close. It was a photo of a girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, tall and graceful. She had Percy's jet black hair and Mediterranean good looks, and if not for the fact that she shouldn't exist, she would have been like his twin sister.

"Oh, dear," murmured Sally. I watched her inspect every detail: the jut of her slender hips, the confident look she gave the camera, the supermodel-perfect flip of her black curls.

"God, she looks just like you, Percy," said Paul finally, with confusion. He looked at Sally. "But you've never…"

Sally, who was still examining the photo, shook her head. "I've never seen her before. This makes no sense. And her name, you said it was—?"

"Riverspawn Jackson. I know, it doesn't make any sense to us, either," I said sympathetically. "We weren't able to get much information out of her other than her name, and now she's unconscious in the Big House. Chiron says her aura is even stronger than even Percy's."

"Her eyes are weird, tell her about the eyes," prompted Percy.

"Oh, yeah. You can't really see it in the photo, but when she was awake we saw her eyes—they can be green like Percy's, but they change color, too."

"Silver and blue," said Percy. "Like Artemis and Thalia's eyes, and I swear they turned gray like Annabeth's when she looked at me."

"What does that mean, that she's somehow the daughter of all these gods?" asked Paul laughingly.

We all laughed, but Percy looked at me with something resembling terror.

* * *

When Riverspawn Jackson came too, we called a meeting.

Usually, we don't make a big deal of it when a new camper arrives. Chiron gives them a rundown of their newly-dangerous lives. A couple senior counselors make the time to show them around camp and introduce them to people, let them adjust to their cabins, the works. Travis and Connor Stoll steal them some toiletries, both to make them feel welcome and to stick it to Argus.

But this time, all thirteen major cabin leaders met in the Big House. Even cabin leaders from the minor cabins made sure to show up. People milled around uncertainly, murmuring phrases to each other like _Jackson _and _powerful _and _Who names their kid Riverspawn?_ The amount of people there, and the sinister tone of the meeting, was reminiscent of war preparations from the last Giant War. Percy made sure to point that out to me darkly before he took his seat across from Jason at the head of the table. I slid into my seat in between Katie Gardner and Thalia, who muttered to me disbelievingly, "Who names their kid _Riverspawn?" _I laughed and told her to be quiet.

"So, hi," began Riverspawn, who was standing at the front of the room, twirling her body like a little girl. "My name is Riverspawn Jackson and I'm eighteen."

The subject of the meeting was _Why do you exist? _and _Who are you really?, _but we figured it would be rude to start off the orientation with an interrogation like that. Instead, I raised my hand and asked, "So, how did you get here, Riverspawn?"

Her eyes were steely gray when she looked at me. "Well, I was vacationing in Montauk Beach when I was attacked by something big." Her voice was soft and melodic. It could have sprouted wings. "I didn't know what it was. But it chased me all the way up here, and I killed it by flipping up on top of its head, breaking its horn off, and then rolling down onto the ground. I came up in a kneel and stabbed the thing through the chest. It turned into dust in the wind." Riverspawn shuddered. "And my mom…"

"Who were you vacationing with?" asked Katie Gardner gently.

"My brother." She looked at Percy, and her eyes turned an iridescent sea-green—a shade I knew intimately. "Percy Jackson."

Percy's eyes, for their part, gave one huge twitch. In the background, I tried not to notice Travis slipping Connor a couple bills.

Next to him, Nico di Angelo shook his head. "Riverspawn"—he seemed to choke a little on the word—"I'm sorry, but that doesn't really make any sense. Percy's been here for eight, nine years. His mom is alive. In fact, we just spoke with her this morning."

"You know, more importantly," said Percy delicately, "I don't have a sister."

The words hit Riverspawn like a sledgehammer, and for the first time I saw a kind of fury boil behind her eyes. "Well, how else do you explain this?" She closed her eyes and made some kind of fancy hand gesture, almost like she was unscrewing an invisible pickle jar. We all flinched as, one by one, the glasses of lemonade on the war table shattered, the liquid inside flying up to join an ever-growing bubble of lemonade that Riverspawn suspended in the air. We watched in astonishment as the bubble took on form after form: a horse, an icosahedron, a sword, a flower. Finally, when she had had enough of her cinematic demonstration, she flicked her fingers down and the blob sped down towards the table at the speed of sound.

"Omigod please no," gasped Percy, and he flung an arm out to stop the bubble. Gingerly he smushed the lemonade into a smaller ball and, failing a place to put a ball of magically-cohesive liquid, he held it in his arms like a basketball.

"My name is Riverspawn Jackson," smirked the girl triumphantly, "and I'm a daughter of Poseidon, sister to Percy Jackson, and commander of water."

I flashed back to ten years ago, when Poseidon had claimed Percy at the creek. How Chiron had denoted his parentage reverently. How we had bowed.

Nothing like that happened here. Percy just scowled, but before he could say anything, Riverspawn had started speaking again. In her angelic demeanor, she turned to face Jason. Her eyes turned electric blue, and her aura changed too, filling with the ozone-smelling static that had become so familiar to me over the years. "But that's not it. I'm also a daughter of Zeus." Jason looked helplessly over at Thalia, who was sitting beside me in Artemis' honorary chair.

"No. What? How is that possible?" demanded Thalia with her arms crossed.

Riverspawn simpered. I wanted to smack that smug smile off her face. Another one of her rhetorical questions: "How is _this _possible?" She lifted her arms and the air crackled. Improbably, her hands were instantly cloaked with dark storm clouds, flickering with lightning. "Want more?" she asked to no one in particular with a laugh, and without waiting for an answer she redoubled her efforts, tripling the weight of the storm. Percy and Nico edged nervously away.

"Okay, that's enough," said Jason politely, but he was watching the eye of the storm—centered on her hands—like a hawk. Next to me, Katie Gardner scooted her chair back warily and whispered something in his ear. He took a breath and the wind that was developing around us slowed.

A bolt of electricity arced its way to the end of the table, but Thalia caught it with her fingers before it could hit us. "Hey!" she yelled furiously. "That's _enough!_" Thalia slammed her hand on the table and hit Riverspawn square in the chest with the lightning, but she just laughed delightedly and let her arms down. The storm dissipated. Percy gave me a pleading look, like _How is this happening?_

"Don't tell me you're a daughter of Hades too," sniped Nico across from me. I wish he hadn't said that, because Riverspawn reacted like Christmas had come early.

"Actually!" she squealed, and stamped her foot. Her eyes flickered, then melted into a cool obsidian. Suddenly, the temperature of the room dropped ten degrees. The shadows bent and contorted around her, and when they finished, Riverspawn opened her fists and poured hundreds of exquisitely-cut precious gems onto the table.

"Yeah, fine, that's enough of that," said Nico quickly, and he looked under the table and waved his hand a couple times. I didn't know exactly what he did, but just then there was a sickening _crunch _and a ghostly scream, as if he had just closed up a portal to the Fields of Punishment.

Which I guess he may have.

Clarisse broke the long silence. "So… I think I speak for everyone when I ask, is that it? Can we discuss your existence now or do you have more annoying shows for us?"

Looking back on it, I have no idea why Riverspawn gave it long thought. "I have more shows for you," she finally decided, and Clarisse stifled a groan and sat back. "I'm also the daughter of Demeter!"

Nico had gathered a pile of the gems and was sullenly zapping them away one by one, but Riverspawn cleared the table with one wave of her hand. Where her hand had touched the table, flowers began sprouting like crazy, vibrant and eager like anything the Demeter kids had ever made. Katie leaned forward to inspect one of the blooms, then jerked hurriedly back as the leaves grew up towards her face. Katie waved her hand over the flowers to control their growth within a circle. "Awesome," she said bitterly. I'd never heard her use that tone before. "Thanks for ruining our table with root growth."

"I'm also a daughter of Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus," Riverspawn rattled off on her fingers. With every word, her eyes changed: fiery red, burnished gold, sunny blue, and startlingly purple. "And I could show you right now but I don't think you want me to take a bow and arrow out right here."

"I absolutely do not want that," confirmed Will Solace with a tight smile.

Leo sat forward. "And Hephaestus?"

Riverspawn smiled, eyes flickering to match Leo's warm brown. She held up a hand. Percy's mouth opened to say something before flames started licking up her wrist, catching her fingers on fire, at which point he sat back in defeat.

Leo's breath caught. "You're… not supposed to be able to do that," he said unsurely.

"Why? Because you're the only son of Hephaestus born in three hundred years who can do this?" smiled Riverspawn sweetly. Something smelled like it was burning. I stifled a laugh as Percy looked over at her feet, panicked, and willed some lemonade to put out the fire.

"First of all, how did you know that about me, and second of all, yeah!" he exclaimed. "How can you be the daughter of all these gods? Zeus _and _Poseidon _and _Hades _and _Demeter _and—"_

"Athena and Aphrodite, too—"

"_AND, _hell, all of those, too!" Leo's voice had risen to a shout. "It's literally not possible that you have so many powers. I don't even want to _think _about what happened to make all of them your parents. I just—" He threw up his arms and slouched into his seat sullenly.

Riverspawn was quiet for a long time. I thought she was going to say something that redeemed this even a little bit, and then: "Oh," she said suddenly. "I almost forgot. I'm also the daughter of Artemis and Hera and Hestia. Those virgin goddesses, huh?"

The room let out an exasperated breath. Thalia screamed behind gritted teeth for a long second. "Just tell me how _that_ happened," she said, with very measured syllables.

Riverspawn shrugged. Her eyes turned silvery yellow and she regarded her fingers absently, which were emitting rays of white light. "I don't really know. I guess things like this you just gotta accept, right?"

"Not really," replied Thalia shortly.

"So that's it?" asked Jason carefully. "Are you done with your whole parentage?"

She thought about it. "Yeah."

Percy and I met eyes as we deliberated what to do next. "Okay, Riverspawn," I said, standing up. I turned to the end of the table, where the minor god counselors were regarding me with some kind of relief. Maybe they were pleased that Riverspawn wasn't their ungodly half-sister. "Butch, why don't you… show her around the camp?"

"Really?" he asked pointedly, with a raised eyebrow. "Where is she going to stay?"

I hesitated. The Stoll brothers were looking up at me with panic. "Just show her around. Let her see the sights," I said again with finality. "We can decide if she'll get a cabin… later. We"—I looked around at the senior counselors, who were watching me with actual fear in their eyes—"have a lot to talk about."


	2. We Collectively Have No Idea What To Do

Thalia didn't come along to my second period. Grover and Luke did, though, and we walked out of Posey's class together. They immediately made a beeline for the elevators—our next class was ten floors up—and I made a face.

"What's up?" asked Grover, looking back at me.

"Hate elevators," I mumbled. Something about the sweaty, confined space made all my nerves crawl out of my skin. But I followed Grover into the elevator to the thirteenth floor anyways. I just made sure to position myself by the corner with the buttons. Right when the doors were closing, a burly red-haired girl, who I recognized from Posey's class, called, "Hey, wait, hold the car!" I happily reached over and jabbed the 'open' button a couple times.

She nodded gruffly at me when she entered, then immediately turned to face Luke, backing me further into the corner in the process. I frowned at the back of her head. "So, how's Arndorfer feeling today?" she asked him. "Are the new recruits hanging?"

Luke shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. I need a couple more strong players, not these tiny freshmen we've been getting." He leaned over and eyed me with interest. The girl followed his gaze, looking surprised when she saw me as if she never fully registered that I was there. Luke continued: "New guy might be good material though. He's tall enough, at least, I can't really say that for the freshmen."

_Good for what? _I shouted in my head. They sounded like they were preparing people for a sacrifice. I looked over at Grover for help, but he was busy adjusting his hat.

The girl snorted. "_Him?" _she demanded disbelievingly. "He looks like he's never taken a hit in his life. He ain't gonna hang."

"Can you hang, Percy?" asked Luke.

I tried to look up at Luke around the girl's shoulder. "I—hang with what?"

Rolling her eyes, the girl turned away, but Luke just gave a laugh. "Football season, man. Biggest game of the year is in two months. When all the seniors last year left, our team took a huge hit—"

"Yeah, right," spit the girl. "They weren't shit."

"Not even Beckendorf?" challenged Luke.

The girl paused. "He was the exception."

The elevator dinged, and we filed out onto the thirteenth floor. Luke lagged behind the girl and turned back to me. "Anyways, Coach has been trying to whip the new freshmen into shape. But it's…" He searched for the word. "Not easy. Grover's seen them in practice, hasn't he?"

"Bla-ha-ha! Not good," shuddered Grover. It was an explosion of noise unlike anything I had ever seen today. I was kind of impressed.

"Point is, can you hang, new kid?" asked Luke again expectantly. He seemed to already know the answer, which was messed up because I didn't really know it myself.

"I swim, I guess. I'm a sprinter."

"How well?"

I thought about it. "League championships."

Luke nodded philosophically. "Hmm. Yeah, that'll work," he mused, holding open the doorway to room 1301. I ducked his arm and went in. "Meet me tomorrow after school for football tryouts. We need a bit of new life in that program," he called after me.

"Will do," I called back. I didn't remember ever taking an interest in football, but maybe if Luke thought I was good enough…

Grover was at the front of the classroom, talking with someone I figured was the teacher. She was built small, about my height, with red-brown hair braided back into a ponytail. Grover gestured over at me, and she turned to survey me. Her eyes were warm and cozy, a shade of melted brown so warm they were almost red. "Hello, Percy Jackson," she smiled. Her voice was low and elegant, a dramatic contrast from Mr. Posey's booming presence. "I am Ms. Halkias. I teach English and poetry here. It's a pleasure."

"Nice to meet you," I managed, shaking her hand.

"What school did you come from?" she asked inquisitively. "We have a couple new seniors transferring in this year, but that's a rarity."

"Oh, I—"

Something seemed to occur to her, and her eyes flickered momentarily. She interrupted me quickly: "Well, it's not important anymore. You're here now, and we'll do our best to make you feel at home, isn't that right, Grover?"

"Yes, ma'am," he promised her brightly.

Ms. Halkias looked up at the clock. "Oh, it's almost time for class. You better take your seats. I'll see you later, Percy Jackson."

Grover and I walked back towards the tables. He found a spot with two empty seats near the front, and I sat down between Grover and a girl with frizzy red hair who was occupied with her doodles. "So who's that girl?" I asked Grover finally, motioning at the back where Luke and the girl from earlier were joking around together.

Grover didn't even need to look back before he raised his eyebrows at me. "That's Clarisse la Rue. She's the only girl on the football team, but she's there for good reason. It's best not to cross her."

"I wasn't planning on it. But I'm pretty sure she hates me already."

"Oh, she's just like that," said Grover dismissively, but he looked away and adjusted his hat nervously. As the bell rang, it occurred to me that Grover was probably the worst liar I'd ever met.

The class quieted. Luke and Clarisse murmured something in the back. Ms. Halkias rose and took her place in front of the whiteboards, surveying the class. "Welcome, class. My name is Ms. Halkias, and I will be your English IV teacher this year. I assume many of you know each other, but those that do not may save their introductions for _after _class." The last phrase was aimed pointedly at Luke and Clarisse, who were still whispering to each other.

I turned to watch them. They didn't seem to hear her. After a pause, Ms. Halkias continued anyways: "We will begin our survey this year by analyzing the works of Homer and his classical Greek contemporaries, and end it with Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and modernist American works. Can anybody tell me Homer's two major works, which are considered his magnum opuses?"

The girl next to me raised her hand. I turned around again to face Luke and Clarisse. One said something to another, and then they burst out in laughter. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "Hey, guys, can you just shut up?"

Beside me, I heard Grover inhale sharply. The class went silent.

Clarisse sneered at me. "Prissy boy is a goody-two-shoes, huh?" Luke's face was unreadable as he regarded me carefully, but eventually he forced a smile.

"No, you're right, Percy Jackson," he said slowly. "Sorry, Ms. Hotcakes, I'll be more respectful."

Ms. Halkias had an amused look on her face. "Appreciated, Percy Jackson. Bold move, though that was not the correct answer." She moved to the whiteboard and wrote _Odyssey _and _Illiad _in beautiful cursive. The girl next to me cursed and put her hand down. "The _Odyssey _and the _Illiad_ were what we call epics, long poems with occasional bits of structure to facilitate the oral tradition of storytelling. Yes, Ms. la Rue. You may not be in Atwood's AP Literature, but I still expect excellence from you all."

Clarisse scowled and said nothing. When she realized I was looking at her, she glared at me and mouthed something foul. I don't know how to read lips, but even I could make out the two words she hurled at me.

"Good riddance," murmured the girl next to me. For the first time, I got a good look at her face: pale and smooth, splashed with freckles. Everything she owned seemed splashed with paint in some way, from her sneakers to her overalls to her phone. Her eyes were startling green and hazel, and when she looked at me I felt probed, like she didn't see me as much as she saw a collection of colors and lines to dissect. She scribbled something on her notebook and nudged it at me: _R U new Here?_

I nodded. She looked satisfied and wrote, _Makes sense. I'm Rachel nice 2 meet U._

_Makes sense? _I wrote underneath. _Hi I'm Percy._

_Nobody likes 2 talk back to that B— _and here she drew a long jagged line, which made me laugh. _New kids just Dont know any better :)_

I reached for the notebook. Just then, without even turning from the board, Ms. Halkias called, "And I'd appreciate if you stopped passing notes, Percy Jackson." The entire class laughed, and I flushed up to my hair and sank down into my seat. She had the kind of rebuking tone that could make a hardened criminal want their mothers. I could feel Luke's eyes on my back, but I didn't want to turn around and give him the satisfaction. Rachel shrugged and went back to drawing, this time sketching out the jawbone of someone who looked a lot like me. Underneath, she labeled it _Prissy._

I was a little relieved when class ended, not because of Ms. Halkias, but because Clarisse kept on crowing, "Prissy boy!" whenever Perseus was mentioned. I fished my

"What's your third period? Oh, Government." He thought for a second. "That's all the way down on the first floor, but I'm on the tenth for Home Economics. I'll at least walk you to the elevators."

"Nah," I said, surprising myself. "I'm just gonna take the stairs." I hated the elevators, but was I really going to walk down thirteen floors?

Grover raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that's cool. Do you do that a lot?"

"What, take the stairs?"

"No, get ahead of yourself." It was an obvious allusion to me shouting at Clarisse earlier, and I bristled a little.

"I just don't like bullies, is all," I replied hotly.

He shook his head. "Bla-ha-ha!" There was that strange laugh again. "You got invited by Luke to be on the football team, but Clarisse is gonna make your life really hard. I don't want you to get murdered on your second day of school."

"It's okay, I think I pissed them both off," I muttered to myself, but I guess Grover pretended not to hear because he just shook his head and led the way out of the classroom.


End file.
